How Britain’s driest village is coping with the heatwave – and what you could learn

The last time any precipitation was recorded in the village of Histon was on June 26 – a paltry 0.4mm.

In fact, barely a thimble of rain has fallen on the lawns of the Cambridgeshire settlement since the beginning of the year.

This has made it the driest place in the UK, according to the Met Office.

The village duck pond is running low, lawns have turned brown and brittle, and residents are changing their daily routines to cope with weeks of unusually dry weather.

So what’s it like to live there? How have people coped? And what can they teach us about getting through yet another heatwave expected next week?

Jo Catterick, 62, says life in the village has slowed down and turned a little more south European.

Histon’s residents are adapting in simple ways that could become familiar across Britain if hot, dry summers become more common: avoiding outdoor activity during the hottest part of the day, reusing grey water to keep gardens alive and replacing thirsty plants with more drought-tolerant varieties.

Jo said: ‘I’m living like a middle aged Greek woman where you see them close the shutters at 11am and get all their jobs done first thing in the morning.

‘They live their lives more in the evening, which I think people are doing much more now, it’s much less busy in the day.’

A hosepipe ban has been in force in Histon since July 9 along with the rest of the Cambridge Water region.

As a result, Julie Dunn, 62, says she’s had to use bath water to keep her plants alive.

She said: ‘It’s a very beautiful area, and it’s very pretty, but it doesn’t look at it’s best – it’s just brown and burnt.

‘The dry weather means I’m having to water and be very careful – we have a bucket in the shower, and we save all our grey water, and we use that for the garden.

‘We always put a bucket in when we have a shower to get the excess – washing up water, we always put in the water butt to try and avoid filling our watering cans from the hose.’

Steven Snudden, 39, said that he’s been a lot busier, but his garden is a sorry sight.

He said: ‘People are just as thirsty for beer, so that helps me, I guess. Customer-wise, we’ve been just as busy, if not busier recently.

‘My garden was growing lovely, but it got trashed in a few days because of people walking on it. Not being able to water the lawns has had quite an impact for the pub.’

Histon is just four miles away from Cambridge University Botanic Garden.

They’ve had a little bit more water – 209.5mm vs 196.4mm – since January 1, so are also looking at ways to adapt.

Sally Petitt, head of horticulture, said: ‘We’re actually focussing some of our expeditions and plant-collecting trips on countries that have climates similar to that which we’re forecast to have in the future.

‘We’ve always traditionally grown Mediterranean plants well because of our low rainfall and our local conditions, and well-drained soils, so it’s expanding those kind of collections, and thinking of those as being the norm, rather than the exception.’

Sally says they’re also looking at the future and what they can do to preserve water when it’s falling in abundance.

She said: ‘We’re thinking about installing more rainwater harvesting, we have some on our glasshouses, but not anywhere near sufficient probably for future use.

‘We’re trying to adapt, but it’s quite hard to know exactly what the climate will do.’

The National Institute of Agricultural Botany, which gave the rainfall measurements, said the dry weather was providing a real-life test for its research.

NIAB head of communications Ros Lloyd said: ‘As weather patterns become more unpredictable, understanding how to maintain productive and profitable farming systems under these conditions is becoming increasingly important.

‘At NIAB, drought tolerance and the impact of climate change on crop production are key areas of our work.

‘The extreme conditions experienced this season offer a real-world backdrop in which to study how different crop varieties respond to water stress, identify traits associated with resilience, and develop strategies that can help farmers adapt to a changing climate.

‘As periods of drought are expected to become more frequent and more intense in many parts of the UK, research of this kind is increasingly important.

‘By understanding how crops perform under these challenging conditions, we can help support the development of more resilient farming systems and safeguard future food production.’

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